Cholesterol and cardiovascular disease

[adviceneeded11]

Hi all,
I'm just looking for a bit of advice/guidance on what steps to take next.

So just some quick info, i'm 29, BMI of 36.2. Also at the age of 23 had severe pre eclampsia which i'm sure was told in the years after can increase your risk of stroke/cardiovascular disease. Also have slightly high blood pressure although don't actually know whether this is weight related or an after effect of pre eclampsia.

Anyway i'm really unfit, just walking up the stairs has me out of breath. Just lately I've been getting alot of pain in my left upper arm it comes and goes but very regularly, i've also in the past had chest pain and intense jaw pain at the same time but this only lasted seconds. Have never seen a doctor about it. Quite often have a 'mild' central chest pain. My dad has had high cholestrol so thought i'd do a postal test.

My results came back as:
Cholesterol: 6.1 mmol/L
HDL: 1.15 mmol/L
Non HDL: 4.97 mmol/L
Triglycerides: 3.78 mmol/L

Now I have no idea about these numbers, the report just keeps saying i'm at increased risk of cardiovascular disease and to make dietary and lifestyle changes (which i fully intend on starting straight away) but is this something I should be going to the doctors about? I don't know whether i'm meant to be on medication or whether diet and exercise would be enough to bring it down eventually? I'm very worried about possible heart disease.

No idea where to start
Thanks for anyone who read this far!

Go on a whole foods plant based diet. It will save your life. Google forks over knives, dr mcdougal, plant strong, watch on netflix what the health and game changers. Watch on youtube forks over knives.

I had similar results last week from Thriva. I did an e-,consult and sent the results over. The GP replied with some dietary advice and said they generally don't worry unless the total cholesterol is over 7 and that I should aim to get the total cholesterol/HDL ratio below 4. She suggested retesting in 3 months to see if lifestyle changes had an impact.

Make the changes now. I had those numbers at age 50, did nothing, massive heart attack at age 51.

I would get a GP appointment, for any ongoing pain in chest, left arm or jaw. You are obviously worried to have gotten a private test, but you need to get checked over thoroughly by nurse/gp. You don’t say how high your BP is, but again this needs to be checked by GP.

I take statins for high cholesterol and medication for high BP, both of these keep my levels under control. It is about maintaining low levels consistently.

Have you got any news on how It went? I have the same symptoms and also had pre eclampsia. Gained weight after having it and not been the same since. Starting to really worry so would love if you could update

I don't know if you would be a candidate for it, but has anyone mentioned a cardiac CT scan to you? Given your history I would ask if it is possible.

I had one withslightly lower lipid results than you, because they were checking everything out due to my Atrial Fibrillation diagnosis. It is a very quick way to tell if you have plaque/calcium build up in the arteries. The higher the score the greater the risk of coronary artery disease. Takes only a few minutes in the scanner. It is the non invasive version of cardiac angiogram, so no catheter needed in the arteries. Brilliant!

I was blessed that my score was zero, the best it could be, so I don't have to worry about artery blockages, touch wood.

OK you probably need to watch cholesterol levels, but they are not totally off the scale either. Advocate for yourself. If the cardiac CT shows serious plaques then go for statins and whatever other preventatives/treatments they offer such as cardiac angioplasty.

Best of luck to you. A good GP/Cardiologist will get you the most suitable testing to put your mind at rest.

Just noticed zombie land thread. But my long post might help someone else.

Just one thing, @greenhousegal it’s actually not always the degree of stenosis, but the stability of the plaques that causes the problem. Statins help stabilise the plaques.